Apple and Rhubarb
by dracmione
Summary: Lily is furious when James blindfolds her and takes her to an unknown location. He's got a romantic evening planned but can the two behave like civilised human beings long enough for him to ask a very important question?


**Summary** **:** Lily is furious when James blindfolds her and takes her to an unknown location. He's got a romantic evening planned but can the two behave like civilised human beings long enough for him to ask a _very_ important question?

 **Disclaimer** **:** Of course the Potterverse belongs to nobody else other than the queen herself J.K. Rowling. I only own the idea for the story!

* * *

Lily was fuming. Sweet Merlin, she was so mad that her fiery hair may as well have become actual flames. What caused her fury? Earlier that afternoon, her _dear, sweet, loving, idiotic_ boyfriend James had woken her from a nap. A nap? Surely that's not such a big deal right? Well, no. Except she'd been having the most pleasant dream and his reason for waking her was that he wanted to go for a drive.

Lily, feeling mildly irritated by that point, couldn't believe him. Was it really necessary to wake her up, for a _drive_? She drew a breath; preparing to rip him to shreds. But before she could even utter a single word, he grinned. It was one of those stupid, charming and not-at-all-endearing-puppy-like grins, and like it had been rehearsed, Lily sighed and her frosty exterior melted.

"Fine." she muttered, gritting her teeth. If possible, James' smile got even wider.

Lily rolled her eyes though, as James leapt energetically into gear, grabbing their coats, keys, wands and everything else they needed before bounding outside to the car. She followed petulantly, dragging and stomping her feet as she walked. Yet before she even reached the car, darkness overcame her vision and panic consumed her.

"James! James Potter!" Lily shrieked, reaching up to feel for whatever had covered her eyes. Before she could make any moves to clear her vision though, James took her hands in his own.

"Calm down Lil, I've got a surprise for you." He said, leading her forward and sitting her in the passenger seat. Lily could hear the mischief in his tone, but it didn't quell her feelings of panic and anger.

"Potter, I swear to Merlin when this blindfold comes off, I'm going to hex you within an inch of your life!" she growled, desperately trying to untie the blindfold now that she was seated. _Merlin, this thing must be made of steel,_ she thought after multiple unsuccessful attempts to untie the blasted thing. To her right, she heard James chuckle. Halting her efforts on the blindfold, Lily blindly punched in the direction she expected James to be. A smug smile graced her face as she satisfyingly felt the give of flesh under her fist.

"Ow Lil! What on earth was that for!?" James yelped.

"That's the least of your worries! When I'm out of this blindfold James, I swear-"

"Yeah, yeah. Hex me within an inch of my life. We'll see."

"James-bloody-Potter, you are _in_ for it now." Lily growled, crossing her arms and settling in for the drive. There was nothing much she could do as of yet. She would wait for them to arrive at their destination, wherever that was...

* * *

After what felt like _hours_ of driving _,_ Lily felt the car come to a stop and curiosity overwhelmed her. She knew they weren't near civilization because for the last, probably twenty minutes or so, they'd been driving off road. Reaching up to her blindfold once more, she futilely tried to regain her vision so she could assess her surroundings. During the drive her anger had diminished somewhat, but now it was reappearing full force and she huffed as her attempts to relieve herself failed. Once again, James chuckled next to her as he opened the car door and got out.

"Hold on Lily, I've got you." he said, a grin obvious in his voice.

"No you bloody well don't." she muttered back as he opened her door and helped her out.

As they moved forward, Lily made to shake off his arm but thought twice about it when she nearly tripped in the long grass they seemed to be walking through. After walking a very short distance, James stopped her by placing both his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm going to take the blindfold off now," Lily shivered at his hot breath on her ear. "I'll be taking your wand as a precaution though, my love."

"Your love, my arse! Don't you even think-" she began to hiss back, but she stopped when simultaneously her vision cleared and her wand was stolen from her pocket.

Blinking painfully at the light that suddenly invaded her eyesight, Lily whirled around, ready to deck that damned Potter, wondering why on earth she'd chosen him in the first place. But before her first could find it's mark, she heard the pop of apparition twice; once to signal his disappearance, twice to signal his reappearance. Once again, Lily whirled, but instead of her sight landing immediately on her sweetheart, her gaze landed on a beautiful little picnic set up in the grass fields that surrounded her.

"You like it?" James asked, his arms spread wide as his girlfriend surveyed his handiwork with awe.

Still irritated, Lily glared at him, before nodding curtly. She once more cast her eyes over the picnic setting and it came to her attention that she didn't see any food. _What was a picnic without food?_ she thought. She voiced her thoughts.

"It's back in the car. I wanted to show you this first. Hang on, I'll get it." James made to walk back to the car, but before he could Lily intercepted him.

"I'll get it." she insisted, pushing him to sit down, once again glaring at him for good measure.

Lily raced back to the car and opened the boot, suspecting that would be where he'd put it. Her suspicions proved correct and she peaked inside the basket, eager to find out what she'd be feasting on. Freshly baked sourdough bread (still warm), roast vegetables (carrots and pumpkin, seasoned with rosemary, sage and salt), a pie with a berry(?) filling, fresh figs, a garden salad and on the side there was goats cheese and beetroot puree. It all looked and smelt amazing and she felt her mouth water.

Grabbing the basket, Lily raced back to the picnic setting, sitting down with the food next to her. Pulling out the dishes, one by one, she placed them as close to her as possible, glancing at James, who was staring at the food like a man dying of thirst. He made to reach for one of the figs but Lily smacked his hand away, tutting.

"Uh-uh-uhhh!" she said, waving her finger in front of his eyes. "This is your punishment for blindfolding me."

James grinned and Lily frowned. James loved his food, why wasn't he being persistent about it? His smile almost looked like he had a secret she didn't know. Shaking her head, Lily helped herself to a fig, biting into the sweet fruit and letting the juice dribble down her chin. She moaned in rapture. Ok, part of it was theatrics… part of it was that this was the best fig she'd ever eaten. Godric. It. Was. So. Good.

Now it was James' turn to frown. He'd looked mighty pleased with himself earlier, but now? Now he looked like he was struggling with himself (he was probably just very turned on by her, as per usual). Lily grinned and it was like their roles were reversed. She looked impish and he looked serious.

"Come on Lil. What happened to that Gryffindor generosity?" he appealed to her house sensibilities and the sensible part of Lily caved. She rolled her eyes and pushed the fig dish towards her boyfriend who helped himself, still looking pensieve.

They settled into their meals in silence, but over time Lily became aware of James staring intently at her. She glanced at him, raising her eyebrows. His serious expression lightened and he grinned, wiggling his own eyebrows. The two collapsed in laughter and shortly after settled into comfortable conversation. It was truly moments like these, when James was charming, attentive and witty, that she truly understood why she fell for him.

* * *

As daylight gave way to twilight, the two settled into comfortable silence once more as they divided slices of pie. Lily wasn't going to lie, she'd been eyeing the pie the entire picnic, barely masking her excitement for the food. She just _loved_ pie. But upon taking her first bite she realised her pie appearance assessment from earlier had been wrong. It wasn't berry flavoured. It was apple and rhubarb. The sweetness and tartness of the flavour combinations forced Lily to once again moan with bliss. James laughed at her and she cut him a severe look as she continued to eat her pie ravenously. Halfway through her third bite however, she bit into something incredibly hard.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand. Plucking the hard object from the half chewed bite of pie in her mouth she stared down at it in utter shock. Why on earth was there are piece of jewelry in her pie? She looked James in shock, even more surprised to find him looking like he was going to be sick. He slowly changed his position until he was kneeling in front of Lily.

As the realisation of what was really going on hit her, Lily's jaw went slack and her eyes glazed. He was proposing to her. He was proposing to her? _He was proposing to her_! Lily scrambled up from her sitting position, pressing her hand to her heart which was now attempting to escape her chest cavity. Her eyes darted from her boyfriend to the half chewed mess in her hand. This can't be happening. Surely she was imagining it. James Potter didn't have the decency to do something so romantic! When she'd imagined him proposing to her, she'd imagined him saying something like "Wanna get married" and that was it. She'd never imagined _this._

"Lily?" James' voice interrupted her reverie. "Lily-I-still-don't-know-your-middle-name-Evans, I've loved you since the day that I laid eyes on you," he started, pausing only when she scoffed at him.

"I have loved you since the day that I laid eyes on you," he tried again, glaring at her. "You've lit up my world and I can't imagine living a life without you. Lily, will you marry me?"

James took the ring from her fingers, cleaning it with a nearby napkin and holding it up to her. Lily shook her head furiously to try and clear her thoughts. Surely she was imagining this whole scenario. That's it! She was still dreaming. James had never woken her from her nap and they'd never come here. _But she wasn't usually this creative!_

A look of fear overtook James' expression as she shook her head. He'd counted on her saying yes. Bollocks, what was he going to do now? Padfoot and Moony and Mckinnon were due to come out soon to pop champagne and celebrate with them.

"No? You're saying no?" he asked miserably, withdrawing the ring from her.

"No!" Lily exclaimed. "No, I'm not saying no. But I mean, I'm dreaming so I don't know it should matter-" she pinched herself. "Ow!"

"Dreaming are we?" James asked amused.

"But you don't have a romantic bone in your body Potter!"

"I do too!" he gestured at the spread around them.

"You couldn't have done this on your own! Tell me who helped-"

"Merlin Evans. Will you bloody marry me or not!?" James yelled over the top of her.

"You're a git, James Potter." she said. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Slow smiles spread over the two lovers' faces as James slipped the ring onto his _fiancee's_ ring finger and their lips met for a sweet, sweet kiss.

The newly engaged couple settled back into their seated positions, Lily constantly glancing at the sparkly piece of jewelry on her finger and James constantly checking over his shoulder. Just as Lily was about to snap at him for his attention span though a group of three emerged from the trees nearby.

Lily laughed at the expressions of trepidation on the trio's faces as they neared. She held up her hand, letting the last light of the sun capture the sparkle of her new ring. Trepidation gave way to a mix of facial expressions and emotions. Remus looked relieved, almost like he'd been expecting her to say no (which she felt slightly offended by). Sirius looked impish, as if he was already planning James' bucks party (which she wanted no part of planning) and Marlene just looked joyous (which she found touching). The three raced over to the loved up pair, embracing their dear friends on their engagement and they wore the night away with a lot of merriment and celebration.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Just a trashy, fluffy Jily fic because Jilytober bitches. It's probably really bad, but I enjoyed writing it. Read and review if you liked it my dudes!


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